John Rabby, BASF group vice president-North America has asked all BASF employees with company cars to seek out and patronize only outlets that sell ethanol-blended gasoline.
Rabby, according to Rick Van Genderen, U.S. business manager for BASF, also encouraged employees to use ethanol in their personal cars.
In the memo announcing the initiative, Rabby wrote, "As one of the leading agriculture input companies, it is vital to our long-term success to prove our leadership on many fronts that concern our ultimate customers, the farmers."
Several gas suppliers blend a 10 percent crop-derived ethanol in their fuel. Currently, it is estimated that 2 percent of all gasoline fuels contain ethanol.
Currently production of ethanol utilizes 600 million bushels of corn but can also be derived from other agriculture crops such as potatoes and sugarbeets.